When you think about documentaries, certain things come to mind: verité shooting, archival footage, interviews, narration. Embedded in this idea of what could be called the “well-made doc” is a set of
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You might be surprised to find out that the story of the Syrian Civil War to date is hotly contested ground. Not the war: the story.
Keep ReadingFirst things first: Wavelengths, the experimental and avant-garde program curated by Andréa Picard, is pretty clearly the best thing TIFF has going for it. Here, as nowhere else, the celebrity-centric mediocrity of
Keep ReadingMakala (France, 96 min.) Dir. Emmanuel Gras Programme: TIFF Docs (North American Premiere) Makala, Emmanuel Gras’ documentary about an episode in the life of a Congolese charcoal producer/salesman, Kabwita Kasongo, is
Keep ReadingNot all of TIFF’s docs end up in TIFF Docs. In recent years, many of the festival’s most interesting documentaries have been screened in the avant-garde program, Wavelengths. This year is no different: with
Keep ReadingThe Other Side of Everything (Serbia/France/Qatar, 100 min.) Dir. Mila Turajlic Mila Turajlic’s The Other Side of Everything is two things: on one level, it’s a first-person doc about a daughter’s
Keep ReadingThe China Hustle Dir. Jed Rothstein Programme: TIFF Docs (World Premiere) You saw The Big Short, right? Of course you did. And you came away with two thoughts: they ought to
Keep ReadingThe Final Year (USA, 89 min.) Dir. Greg Barker Programme: TIFF Docs (World Premiere) Sometimes with documentaries it is painfully obvious that the film that ends up in theatres is not
Keep ReadingJane (USA, 90 min.) Dir. Brett Morgen Programme: TIFF Docs (World Premiere) I went into Brett Morgen’s doc Jane with some trepidation. Did we really need a new Jane Goodall movie?
Keep ReadingCaniba (France, 90 min.) Dir. Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel Programme: Wavelengths (North American Premiere) “Bring a barf bag,” was a warning I heard from a TIFF insider before I saw
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